Just Call Me Daddy
by dreamchaser31
Summary: What would happen if Stephanie did get pregnant during her first marriage?
1. Chapter 1

_What would happen if Stephanie had gotten pregnant during her first marriage?_

_I looked at the two sleeping girls behind me, strapped in their car seats, as we headed to Grandma and Papa's house. They were beautiful, with their curly dark hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. They looked exactly like me and I was glad. They didn't need to look like their dad. He wasn't worth shit anyway._

_Sofia and Graciella, to me Sofi and Gracie, two of the most precious gifts I have ever received. And they were given to me by the one man that I truly hated._

_Dickie Orr and I got married about a year and a half ago, but we were divorced a year into our marriage. Two weeks after I found him that fateful night I found out I was a couple months pregnant. I told him about it of course, but he said he didn't want anything to do with them. Big shocker. So I just let it be. He doesn't pay child support or anything like that. I like to keep any contact that I have to have with him to a minimum._

_When I found out I was having twins I was scared. All I remember was looking at the test one second and being put on the couch the next. My father had went with me to my first appointment and there they were. Two babies in the same sac, my doctor said. Identical Twins._

_Identical Twins!! Well this should be fun. My first pregnancy and I have to have identical twins. _

_The support I got was overwhelming though. We didn't know what they were yet it was to soon to tell, but everybody was excited. Things like this didn't happen in the burg. People had kids the old fashioned way, one at a time. And now here I was Stephanie Plum, having twins. Yea you could say people were enamored with the idea._

_One person in particular was very helpful. Angie Morelli. She called me everyday to see how I was doing. She brought food to my apartment and helped clean it. She had become like a second mom to me which shocked me because she never really liked me when I was young, but hey more power to her right? If she wanted to help me then I wasn't going to complain._

_My pregnancy with the twins wasn't that complicated. A little scary but never complicated. I walked everyday, ate all the right foods plus more, took my vitamins, and everything else. _

_When I found out they were girls are started getting slap happy, I started buying them everything I could to make them the most adorable girls the Burg would ever see. Little dresses and headbands. Shoes, tights, bows. Everything that I thought they would need. My best friend Mary Lou through me the first baby shower of many, where she of course decided to buy more dresses and frills. And of course the baby shower that my mom's friends threw me was totally elaborate. All the gifts were given in two's. Two matching car seats, two matching high chairs, and two baby stroller, courtesy of Papa Plum. Like I said things like this didn't happen in the Burg._

_There was one thing that got me really upset during the time and that was that Dickie never called to ask about how they were doing. He never contacted anyone. He just didn't. I don't know why, and that made me sad. But I snapped out of it real fast when I heard that he was having a baby with Joyce. He could have that baby for all I care but he would never come around these two._

_The twins were taken via a c- section, two weeks early, and they were doing great. No breathing problems, healthy as can be. Graciella Raileigh came first weighing 5lbs and 6 oz, and 5 minutes later Sofia Reilyn came out screaming at a wopping 6lbs. My dad and Mary Lou were with me in the delivery room the entire time._

_I learned something about my dad those nine months that I was pregnant. Growing up he was the quiet one of my parents, the one that my sister and I would run to if something went wrong but also the one that spoke to us when things we did were wrong. When I got married to Dickie, he didn't like it, and he made sure to let us know that when he stood up at our wedding. And throughout the eight months after that, he still made his strong opinions known about Dickie and Me. But when the marriage failed, he said nothing, he held me every time I cried, he stood by me when I stared at that positive pregnancy test in my hand, and he was there with me when I confronted Dickie about it, even throwing in a few helpful blows of his own. He had become my best friend. Something he never had with Valerie, and I was so grateful for him._

_I had reached my parents house, and with the supreme skill that I had mastered the last two months of being a new mom, I managed to get the diaper bag and both car seats out of my car. It was chilly outside so I made sure their seat covers were on and I folded down each of the flaps to ward off the cold. I managed to get up the steps and to the door when and are through it open and took one of the car seats. I mumbled a thanks, to the person before I got a good luck at person. I knew it wasn't going to be my dad, the arm was too big._

_I gasped when I looked up because I was staring into the eyes of Joseph Morelli._


	2. Chapter 2

"Thanks," I said as soon as I could catch my breath. I couldn't believe it. Joe Morelli was standing in my living room holding one of my babies. This is something I dreamed about all the time when I was 16. Except it wasn't my living room, it was my parents, and he wasn't holding Sofi exactly, she was still in her car seat, but hey a girl can dream can't she?

He looked at me with those deep brown, gorgeous eyes, and smiled, " don't mention it. It's a lot of work carrying one baby. I know I have sisters," he winked at me, " so I decided to help you out a bit, since well, you have two to carry," he said smiling.

" Ya well," I started, " I uh, what are you doing here?"

" What," he said, " you don't want to see me? You know what that hurts," his tone was serious but his eyes were smiling, " Here I was helping you out, and not even a single thank you. No all I get is _What are you doing here?" He was mimicking me and I knew it. _

_I laughed. " No I'm sorry, don't be upset I just, I wasn't expecting anybody else to be here that's all. And thank you, really, it does get hard lugging around two car seats, but they were sleeping, so I didn't want to take them out. Plus it's really cold outside."_

_He shook his head, " you don't have to explain everything to me. I understand, I was just giving you a hard time," he laughed, " so can I see them, I've seen pictures, but I kind of want to see the real deals you know?"_

" _Ya sure."_

_He sat the carrier down and bent over to unzip the cover over Sofi's. He looked up at me and smiled. I watched in amazement at how careful he was with my little girl when he unbuckled the belts and lifted her out of her carrier. " She's beautiful, which one is this?"_

"_That's Sofia," I replied._

"_Beautiful name for a beautiful girl, and the other one I presume is Graciella. Scratch that first thought, two beautiful names for two beautiful little girls."_

_I smiled and bent over to pick up Gracie who was just starting to stir, when I heard. " You sure these are Dickheads kids?!"_

_I laughed, and I remembered, Joe didn't like Dickie, and Dickie didn't like Joe. The reason for me is still unknown, so I knew the 'Dickhead' comment was intentional._

"_Ya, unfortunately they have him as a father, but fortunately he doesn't want anything to do with them. So I don't have to share with credit with him."_

_He chuckled at that and walked closer to me to peer at Gracie. " Probably it's a good thing they don't look like him either." He took Gracie from my arms so now he had Sofi in one arm and Gracie in the other. Just then my mom walked in._

"_Aww my babies are here," she squealed when she saw her grandbabies, giving me a kiss on the cheek and then walked over to Joe to grab one of them, but Joe wouldn't have anything of it. _

" _Hey," he said, " you'll get your turn, let me have mine."_

_My mom was shocked but recovered easily, " five minutes Morelli and then they are all mine." I just rolled my eyes and started to take two binkies out of the diaper bag. _

" _Probably you'll need this, Sofi is really grouchy when she first wakes up."_

" _Nope don't need it, I can deal with her," and then as if on cue Sofi treated us to her God given talent of screaming. He handed me Gracie who, thanks to her sister's amazing set of lungs, started wimpering. _

"_Now just a minute," he was saying in a little baby voice, " that is no way for a little girl to behave. No it's not. You're not supposed to cry like that." I watched in amazement because as he kept talking, Sofi's wails became silent almost non-existent. She just kept looking at this new guy staring up at him with her big blue eyes, fascinated with the dog tag that hung around his neck and the man who was now making her the center of attention._

_He had stopped talking and he looked up at me and grinned, " you see, me and Sofi, we're tight," he laughed, and again took a very upset Gracie from my arms. Gracie immediately stopped squirming around, and became very still when Joe had her again. "Me and Gracie," he added, " ya we're tight too."_

_I laughed, and followed him out to the living room where I found Mrs. Morelli, my parents and Mary Lou and Lenny sitting around, and talking. We joined the conservations taking place and I immediately felt at ease._

_The rest of the night passed in a blur, with Joe continuing to hold my babies. I became the center of his conversations. And Sofi, Graci, and Me, we were the center of his attention, all night long._


	3. Chapter 3

Two months later the babies were 4 months old, and driving me nuts. Whoever came up with the idea that a woman can have two babies at the same time should be shot. I mean don't get me wrong, I love Sofi and Gracie to death, but the thing is, when one cries the other cries. When one wants fed, the other wants fed. When one needs its' diaper changed, guess what? So does the other.

It's hard to be a single mom, but I do enjoy every minute of it.

And it's not like I don't have any help, I have a ton of it, I just wish that this morning that was the case. Sofi was teething, and Gracie. Well she wasn't teething, but she was driving me nuts too. Let's just say the mild mannered baby that she was two months ago has vanished and has been replaced with a demon.

I was just about to grab Sofi's teething ring from the freezer, when I heard a knock on the front door. Probably it was Joe. For the last two months he would stop by my apartment before he went to work and after he got off. He was really bonding with the girls, and I really didn't mind.

The girls, I could tell, loved him to death. They never once threw a tantrum when he was around. That I didn't get. They wouldn't even cry when he was around. One of the many times that I had an extra pair of hands, and they couldn't let out one single wail.

My instincts were correct. Joe was at the door with a bag from McDonalds, and two drinks in each hand. His smile was wide, and his eyes were glowing, and he looked absolutely delicious. He hugged me as he walked through the door, and sat the bags on the table by the wall.

"Where are the girls," he asked and smiled as he took a drink of one of the sodas in his hand, and then handed it to me. "Chicken Nuggets and Fries with Sweet and Sour, right?"

I smiled and nodded, "You know it," I replied with a laugh in my voice, "and the girls are in the living room with their Teddy Bears."

He grinned at that comment. He'd taken them to Build-a-Bear yesterday. He loved taking them places when I had different appointments. And yesterday the appointment was with my mom. A shopping spree of the sorts.

We walked into the living room. And I laughed because were before, a truly teething, irate Sofi, and a very pissed off Gracie laid on the floor screaming, now the babies were asleep.

Aww the miracle of the Joe Factor.

"Unbelievable," I exclaimed, and threw my hands up in the air, then down to my hips. "Two minutes ago, they were breaking glass with their screams."

Joe looked at me and laughed. Handing me a box of fries, he stood up and walked around the table to stand by me. Looking down at the babies, I could see that he truly cared about them. Which confused me because, Joe, to me, well he'd be the last person I would think would care about babies like he did, but the last two months, he was amazing.

Our relationship had grown though, and for that I was grateful. I still remember the time when I ran him over with my fathers Buick. But all of that seemed to be behind us now. We talked all the time now, and the sexual chemistry we had when we were teens was starting to come back.

The thought that she was standing next to him, so close, was making me tremble and weak at the knees.

At nights was the hardest, because after the babies were fed, bathed, changed, and put to bed, the frustrations were totally there, and she could see it in his eyes too. But she didn't want to jump into things this time, like she did with Dickie. Joe was a good guy, well he was proving himself to be. And they had talked about it, it being their relationship. He told her that he liked her, maybe even loved her, but he didn't want to ruin things with her if things went wrong.

And what's more, he already loved her babies.

They each picked up a baby and took them down the hall toward their bedroom, to lay them in their cribs. After each of them was tucked in they went back to the living room, and ate their McDonalds.

"Wait a minute," I started, "don't you have to work?"

"Not today," he replied and smiled, "I did most of the filing yesterday, so they let me off today. My mom wanted me to go to her house and help her with my niece Jessiny, but I told her that I was coming over here, and she didn't object." He smiled, and elbowed her gently. "She sure loves those little girls you got."

I smiled and looked down at my hands. "I know, she's been really helpful to me this last year," I started, and looked up at him again, "which really is surprising me because when we were younger she hated me."

He laughed. "Well let me say this," he took a chicken nugget from the box in front of me, and ate it. "She didn't hate you, she just didn't understand you. She even told me that herself back then. But the reason she's being so helpful now is because she knows how hard it is on you right now. What now with the divorce, and the twins. She knows what's it like to raise kids alone. She had to do it with us because my father was a creep," he paused and cringed. "Your like a daughter to her, she loves you."

I blinked, not so sure what to say. He looked at me and the look on his face became serious.

"Can I tell you something," he smiled and let out a breath at the same time. Taking my hand he continued. "I love you too, I always have."

I smiled because I was so shocked, and for the first time since I caught my cheating ex-husband on my kitchen table with Godzilla, I couldn't breathe.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't remember how long I was holding my breath, but it seemed like hours, when in reality it was probably just a couple of minutes.

"Hey," Joe started, "I know this is a shock, what with all that's happened this past year." He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. "You don't have to say anything right now," he started caressing my hand with his thumb and fore finger. "I just wanted you to know."

I was still speechless, when one of the babies started crying, shock had me glued to my seat, so Joe got up and picked her up.

It was Sofi, of course. He spoke a few soft words to her to calm her down and then walked into the kitchen with her to get her teething ring.

He loved me. Joe Morelli, the Burg Bad Boy actually loved me? And he even admitted it? Something was going on. I blinked a couple of times to see if what had just happened was just a dream.

Nope.

The empty boxes from McDonald's were still on the coffee table, Gracie was still on the floor snoring lightly, and the sounds coming from the kitchen told me that Joe was there, actually there. Gathering my thoughts I started cleaning up the boxes and took them to the kitchen to put them in the trash. Joe was sitting there at the table with Sofi on his lap holding the ring in her mouth, while she sucked on it contently. I went to the sink and washed my hands.

I smiled at him when he looked at me and winked. "She's teething pretty badly," I said as I walked to the table and sat down in the chair closest to them. I reached out and put my finger to her mouth and moved the ring out of the way. She whimpered a little bit, but was relieved when she had something else to knaw on. "It's this one right here that's bothering her I think," I said running my finger over the spot on her swollen gum.

He looked down at it and nodded. "Nothing like a little tooth to cause a big pain, huh," he laughed, as I took my finger out of her mouth and he put the ring back in place, but only this time she refused it and looked up at him and smiled. By now she knew who Joe was, he was as much as her daddy as Dickie was the sperm donor.

He was good to them, and treated them like his own, and to see them give love back to him made my heart soar. I don't know what it was about Joe Morelli that always drew me to him. But I do know that every since I was a little girl I couldn't resist him, and that led to a series of bad things between us. Choo choo in his garage when I was six. Non stop flirting and harmless kissing when I was fourteen. Sex on the floor of the Tasty Pastry, where I worked part- time when I was sixteen. Hitting him with my uncles Buick when I was eighteen. And impromptu night, when I was home from college, and he was on leave from the Navy when I was twenty. And the day I turned twenty-one, a night of passionate, drunken sex.

But after all of that we had our boundaries basically because we knew it would never work out between us. Hell I thought that we would just be booty calls to each other for the rest of our lives. That was until I met Dickie. In fact when I told him that I was getting married his response was, "I didn't know you two were that serious."

The sound of Gracie's cries broke into my thoughts, so I stood up and went to the living room to pick her up. "I'm going to change her diaper," I yelled to the kitchen at Joe, "does Sofi need changed?"

"No she's okay."

I walked down the hall and turned right at the last door, where there nursery was located and laid her on the changing table. Gracie didn't like her diaper changed, she never has. My mother from the very beginning said that she would grow out of it. I was still waiting for that day. But the extra time spent consoling Gracie, reassuring her that the big, mean, diaper monster wasn't going to come and get her, gave me time to gather my thoughts before I had to walk back out and face Joe again.

Walking back down the hall toward the living room I heard that the TV had been turned on, and I saw that Sofi was in her swing. Both of the babies didn't seem hungry so I sat Gracie in hers as well, and went to sit on the couch beside Joe. As I did he scooted over to make room for me and threw his arm on the back of the couch. I smiled at him and sat, and a comfortable silence filled the room except for sound of the girls' soft cooing noises as they played with their hands, and Tom Bergeron's voice as he hosted America's Funniest Home Videos.

Joe's arm came down and went around me to pull me toward him, and I gladly moved, and cuddled to his side. His arm continued to caress my right arm, as he looked down at me and smiled. I smiled back and then turned my attention back to the TV. What was wrong with me. Over the past few months Joe has become like my best friend, sorry Mary Lou, but he really has, and he's basically occupied every waking minute of my brain. He was great with the girls, and my family. He was good to me, but I didn't think it was the right time to tell him that I love him back. Hell we hadn't even been on a real date yet, because most of the time we spent outside of my apartment we had the girls with us, we were never by ourselves.

Then the image of Dickie crossed my mind. He had told me he loved me too, and fifteen minutes into our marriage, he had cheated on me. Reality had something to say, Joe was not Dickie, and there is no way he would do that to you. And then I realized something else, I did love Joe. I always had, but my heart still hadn't healed.

And as he bent down to kiss my forehead, I knew that I needed him. I knew that he had the power to heal it. And I knew that I was going to hold on to this man and never let him go.

I looked up at him and caught his eye and whispered, "I love you too."

_A/N: I hope you all like this chapter, it was probably the easiest one that I've ever done so far. Let me know what you think about it._


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning with a sleeping Sofia on my right arm, Gracie on my left, and a pile of drool on my shirt.I remember the first time I woke up like this, I wasn't happy. Now it's just second nature. My thoughts fly back to yesterday, after I uttered those three little words, well probably the largest words in the the English language, my stomach did not stand still during the rest of the day.  
Did I love Joe? It's not an easy question to ask when you're speaking about Joseph Morelli. What's not to love about him? He's tall, dark, and gorgeous. His eyes are pools of melten chocolate, his mouth is pure poetry. And his body, well I won't get started. Not to mention he loves my girls, but I can't help feeling that yesterday I opened up a can of worms and I wasn't ready to go fishing yet. I do love him, I know I always have but more like a friend.

"How am I going to face him today," I whispered to the cieling as Sofi started to gurgle and move around. The girls are waking and I don't have time to think about this. Maybe I don't want to think about this.  
"Because if I don't think about it," I tell myself, "I won't have to deal with it, I won't have to face him."

I sat up and Graciella let out a sharp cry, "Sorry baby," I cooed, "I didn't mean to startle you." She seemed to take that as a perfect excuse from waking her from wonderland. She put her fist in her mouth and went back to sleep. Sofi on the other wasn't buying that excuse and was getting ready to demand immediate gratification when I found her binkie and put it in her mouth. "You, Sofia,are your mother's child!"

I got up carefully and shifted Gracie to the bed so as not to wake her up. I didn't want to deal with the two of them at the same time this morning, there was too much on my mind. I took Sofia into the bathroom to change and clean her up.

What was Joe doing now? Probably working. Which was as well because I really don't want to see him when my emotions are all scattered around like this. "I can't do this Sofi-girl," I whispered to her, "but how do I tell him that I didn't mean it?" Sofi's big brown eyes were staring up at me in wonder as I put her in her new striped leggings and black tunic.

What good would it do me to get into a relationship with a man that I have ran from my entire life. Of course there was that time when I was 16. But that didn't count. And that time before my bachelorette party but that was desperation, I think.

Sofia was making soft cooing noises as I put her headband in her hair looking up at me. "Your life is so easy right now, little one. You and Gracie though, I will never regret, my special little lady."

I put Sofi on my hip and went down the hall making sure that Gracie would in no way be able to roll off the bed. As soon as I was sure that she would be fine and probably be asleep for the next hour I took Sofi down the whole for her morning bottle. The pediatricion had told us that we could start adding a little bit of baby cereal to there bottles now that they were older and were adjusting to their formula fine.  
My little girls were growing up fast, much to my dislike, and I could do nothing to stop them. Gracie was still a little bit smaller than Sofi, but nothing out of the ordinary. Their curly had straightned a little but Sofi's had a little more curl then Gracie's. And their eyes were now a deep chocolate color, that can make me melt. Sofi has a dimple in her right cheek, Gracie has a dimple in her left.

As soon as she was done I went to go put her in here Jump-a-roo and went into the kitchen as the phone started ringing. I knew who it was as soon as I looked at the ID. The answering machine could take this one.

It Was Joe.

Sorry for the delay in my stories, but I've gotten a lot of PM's for me to continue this story especially. Nursing School, family issues and life take up a huge amount of time, but writing is always a little freeing. This chapter was done in a little bit of a rush. I expected a much longer one, but I'll give you that next. Stephanie is a little confused about her feeling for Joe right now and I hope I make that clear. I also want to add more content of the girls as they grow up because they are a central part of this story. I hope you like. Please review, and as always, i'm always open to suggestions! -dc31 


	6. Chapter 6

The call ended and I had cancelled our dinner date for this evening. It wouldn't have been fair, to him, to me. This post-partum depression stuff has literally messed with my mind. Okay there wasn't anything post-partum about it, and probably I wasn't depressed, I just can't get a grip.

My whole life, Joe Morelli was like a piece of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; you can look but don't touch. But like Eve, I did touch. And what's worse is I liked it. But every time I started to live in a fantasy world, he walked out of my life. He was my first time, you know _the first time._ Happened when I was sixteen, and then I didn't see him for two years. Probably that had more to do with the fact that he was in the Navy, but it still hurt. He didn't write, he didn't call. Nothing. When I was eighteen I ran over him with my father's car; broke his leg. Though he probably didn't deserve it, in my mind he did. I went to the hospital to apologize after his surgery, and things were cool between us again. Actually we were more like friends, but enemies. Every day we tried to do something that pissed the other off. Seemed like he was way better at that game then I was, and then I announced I was getting married. He wasn't happy, not at all. I couldn't understand why. We were just friends; and even then he was still supportive.

Up until the night before the wedding. There in my tiny apartment we fought, and cried, and finally gave into the temptation that we'd been holding back for six years. He didn't leave until dawn, and I hadn't cried, due to the fact that it was my wedding day and I was happy. Well not totally happy. Probably I was ten percent happy and ninety percent terrified. I knew that that should've been my warning, run away, and don't go through with it. But I didn't listen. The church had already been decorated, the relatives had all flown in the night before, and everything was set.

Joe had been invited to the wedding, but he didn't show. In fact that last night we had was the last time I saw him in almost two years. The friendship seemed to be over, and though I was heartbroken over it, I was newly married and I just thought all's well that ends, well not so good actually. More like horrible. Truth is it did hurt that he didn't come to my wedding, but what could I do? I didn't let it get to me.

Now it was getting to me. I seriously had to hear he made detective through my mother. I had to hear that he started seeing Terri Gilman through Eddie. And I had to hear that he got his own house through Mary Lou. Not once did he call and tell me any of those things. Never.

We weren't exactly friends anymore. I wasn't even sure of he knew I was pregnant. I mean everybody and Trenton knew about the divorce. It was nasty. Lawyers from two rival firms across town. Seriously the police had to stand by during negotiations, and had to run interference more than once. So the night I saw him at my parents house was a shock, and the fact that he knew my girl's names was even more so.

He was still fun to talk to, and might I add, to look at. He was good with Sofia and Graciella. It seemed we picked up where we left off, and not once did we talk about that night before the wedding. And not once did he say 'I told you so,' though I know it was rightly deserved.

We were friends. It was nice and that barrior of comfort was never breeched. But pretty soon he was here, all the time. He was getting the girls up and dressed for the day, and helping me put them down for the night. He didn't leave. We'd stay up; we'd talk about everything on our minds, from how our day went to the girls to how much we both hated Dickie Orr, or Dickhead, as Joe would call him. Truth is all my life I valued his friendship, because he was always honest, even when we were enemies. The nights were getting longer and the talks were getting deeper.

Who knows, probably I was just being paranoid. Maybe I did love Joe Morelli, but that fact didn't' change the fact that I didn't want a relationship that was more than friends with him. Every time it seemed in the past we'd get to that part, and he would walk away. It was easy to get over that then, It would devastate me now.

I let out a sigh and got up from my seat on the couch. I needed to check on the girls. I had put them down early tonight in hopes of having a night to myself. I was going to throwback a carton of Rocky Road and watch my Grey's Anatomy DVD collection but somehow I ended up on the couch staring into space.

The girls were fast asleep; Graciella had spit out her binky in exchange for her thumb. Both were in their own happy little dreamlands when I heard a knock on the door. I ran out of the room and down the hall before the knock could come again and wake up the babies.

It was Joe. Of course it was Joe.

"Can I come in," he asked, and I noticed there was a touch of anxiety in his voice. I nodded and stepped aside to let him pass. I closed the door and locked it. I was a little confused, it was ten o'clock at night, and I wasn't expecting him. When he came at night he came at five and stayed until one in the morning.

"What's up," I asked my palms were starting to sweat so I rubbed them on my jeans. Shit! So much for nonchalance. He stopped in the living room and took off his jacked. "The girls," he asked using his head for emphasis as he pointed it towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms. "They're asleep," I replied, taking a deep breath.

"Good," he pointed to my sectional and took a seat. He used his hand to pat the seat beside him and said "sit." His voice lacked emotion and I suddenly felt like it was a repeat of that night before my wedding. He wasn't yelling though, that was a good thing.

I shook my head and stuffed my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. If I sat down there would be no way I'd be able to concentrate. If Joe was beautiful during the day, he was irresistible at night. I know from experience. "I'm okay."

"Shit," he swore but he was quiet, probably he didn't want to wake the girls, though now I wish they would wake up and save their mom from what was bound to be a conversation I was sure I didn't want to have tonight. "What did I do, Steph?"

He looked heartbroken, his eyes were so dark and deep that I had to cross to the window and look out to catch my breath. "I don't understand."

"Well I must've done something. You won't even look at me." He stood, and crossed the room to where I was standing. He used his hands to cup my face and bring my eyes up to meet his. "Why won't you look at me, Stephanie? Tell me what I did so I can fix it. I can't stand this."

I let out a sigh and stepped away from him. I looked at him. He looked dejected. I felt bad, but I couldn't tell him how my new relationship with him now was bringing up bad memories from out past. "Nothing's wrong," I lied and gave him a hesitant smile, "it's been a bad day." The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him. "How's your day been?" Great Stephanie, that's borderline lame.

"Could've been better," he smiled, my heart was breaking. "Had dinner reservations with this really great woman, but she cancelled," he shrugged his shoulders; he started to back to the door. "Now she won't even look at me. I just wish I knew why."

I had to tell him, he was miserable. "No Joe, wait," I said as he reached the door. "Come back." Probably I didn't want a relationship with him but he was still my friend, and he deserved to know why.

I took his hand and led him back to the living room. "Here sit down." He did and I sat on the opposite end and facing him. "It is something, Joe," I started to play with my hands. I was nervous but I had to do this.

"What is it?" The fear in his eyes knew no bounds and before I knew it I was spilling everything to him. I let him know what was on my heart just like I always had. I think it took five minutes to explain everything, but the silence that followed felt even longer.

"I see," he said after the pause and he ran his hand through his hair; his beautiful hair. "You think if we were to start a relationship now I would just leave you, right after I slept with you. I'm not eighteen anymore, Steph, I'm twenty-eight. I just figured you'd realize that." He stood and crossed the room to the window. "Hell Stephanie, if I wanted to do that don't you think I would be with someone who didn't have kids, I'm not," he shook his head and turned around so he was facing me. "I'm not that same guy. I'm not him." He looked at the door. "Maybe I better go." He didn't move, he was looking at me, I could tell he was just as confused as I was.

"Joe I'm sorry," I started, " I didn't even think," he shook his head at me to stop.

"No Steph," he held his hand out to me and walked to me, "I know I hurt you and I figured well we just had forgotten all about it. Steph, I was a jerk back then, to all of those girls, but you were a friend that I took advantage of and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry, you'll never know how much." He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "You're beautiful," he whispered, he leaned in and kissed my cheek. "Do you remember that night before your wedding?" I shook my head yes. How could I forget, that night made my wedding night look lame. "That, Stephanie, was the best night of my life. I was mad and angry because I loved you, and I couldn't tell you because you were someone else's girl. Growing up, I always figured we'd be together, you and me. You were my best friend, easy going, beautiful, and I would've been lucky to have you. I expected you to wait for me to sow my wild oats, and in turn that wasn't fair to you. But my feelings for you never changed, even when I wasn't around those couple of years, I knew what you were doing. I had my mother on Stephanie watch, as she so proudly liked to call it. When I heard you were getting a divorce I knew I had to step in. But then you were pregnant and I didn't think it would've been fair to step in and confuse you." He let out a sigh and a timid smile graced his lips. "Finally your mother invited mine to dinner and I thought I hit the jackpot. When I saw you, everything about you that I loved came back to me. And then you had the babies and I loved you even more, if that's possible, because not many women would put up with what you had to and keep those babies as a reminder."

I was crying and he leaned over and wiped tears away with his thumb. "The babies are beautiful, like their momma. I love them," he looked at me again. "I've always loved you, though."

And without a second thought I flung myself in his arms, kissing him, holding onto him, as if my life depended on it. Seconds were turning into minutes, and I was thinking at least ten had passed when I started pulling off his shirt. Mine was soon on the floor next to his and after that he was carrying me to my bedroom and shutting the door. Everything I thought I knew about this man was completely different then what I was feeling earlier. His mouth was everywhere driving me insane with need. He made love to me, the kind of love that you only read about in romance novels.

I knew we still had more to talk about, but that can wait till the morning I thought, since I knew he most definitely would be there, helping me wake up Sofi and Gracie, where I knew he wanted to be.

_This was a long one, but I hope you enjoy it. I'll try not waiting so long to post the next chapter. I always appreciate feedback._


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